Keys of times pass
by Silas-Windsor
Summary: Hey guys, this is my first shot of story making, so please bare with me, my friends Damion-Black (search his name and read up, his story's are amazing) and I started this as a role play and we converted it into a story, so please let me know what you think and I will pass it along to him. Thank you for reading and please let me know if you like it, or don't


Sliding back from the force of his opponents attack, with key blade in hand and panting, Cinder glanced over to the instructor who nodded, with a smirk the blonde held out his other hand summoning his second key blade, but when his hand met with its handle It vanished "shit"

Ryxo seeing the distracted look in Cinder's eyes, Ryxo sprang into action and took his chance. With one solid strike, Ryxo slammed his keyblade into Cinder's body as hard as he could causing him to fly from his feet and land a short distance away on his back. Ryxo banished his Keyblade and smiled darkly.

"Should have stuck to what you know Cinder. You might have been a challenge." The white haired young man turned his back on Cinder and left the combat circle.

Cinder lay there cursing under his breath, seeing a hand reach out to him, the blonde closed his eyes and took a deep breath, reaching out to take the hand he got up onto his feet and met eyes with his master. "Cinder, your rivalry with Ryxo is clouding your actions, he brings the darkness into your heart." With a sigh he bowed his head, "I understand Master Shinsei." Looking back up at his Master, clad in black but no less a master of the balance of light and dark, Master Shinsei had always been one to encourage his students to do their best but maintain balance. With a weak smile from his master, Cinder shook his head

"I don't care if Ryxo and I work together perfectly, I will get my second blade and I will dominate all of our matches." He thought. With an annoyed look on his face, Cinder bowed to his master. "I will keep my heart in balance next time." Giving a wide smile, Cinders master nodded his head and put a hand in the boys shoulder. "You will be a fine key blade master one day, I know you prefer your strength and skills over the magic I have taught you, but you do well with it none the less." Nodding his head, Cinder looked into the dark haired master eyes and smiled.

Ryxo had left the training hall with a smirk. Cinder was never much of a challenge for him. Where Cinder was weak, Ryxo was unmatched, and there was nothing more to it.

"You should have taken it easier on your class mate. He did not deserve to be humiliated." Ryxo stopped at the sound of his master.

Master Yen Sid stood tall. Even leaning against the wall as he was, the Keyblade master towered over Ryxo in his blue vest and white pants. Everyone knew Master Yen Sid was kind and understanding, but he did not tolerate humiliation at the expense of others.

"He got distracted. And he tried to do something he wasn't ready for. There was an opening, so I took it. How was that humiliating?" Ryxo asked defensively.

The wise master glared at his pupil.

"You didn't need to rub defeat in his face after everyone was there to see it."

"So I solidified my victory, big deal." Ryxo shrugged.

"You let your arrogance guide you Ryxo. It will be your undoing. It will lead you to darkness and upset the balance within your heart. You never took much interest in my teachings of magic but if you had, you would have known that it takes more than strength and skill to be a Keyblade Master. It takes work driven by the honesty and balance of the heart. Do not lose yours Ryxo. Or I will be forced to deny you your mark of mastery." Yen Sid turned away and left Ryxo to his thoughts.

"I wanted to congratulate you on your victory."

Ryxo whirled to see Cinder standing behind him. Cinder's dark blue sleeveless shirt was open halfway as usual. His pants were tattered at the edges and gave him a battle worn look.

Ryxo saw the extended, gloved hand but ignored it.

"Adjust your wrist on your down swing. You'll gain more power if you flick your wrist at the last second just before contact. Cover your left side. You leave it too wide. And master one Keyblade before trying to deal with two. There's less to focus on and therefore leaves you less distracted." Ryxo said. He didn't like Cinder in the least. But he wasn't about to let his feelings get in the way of his Mark. So this was the closest thing to "nice" he could think of without putting too much effort into it. Ryxo turned and walked away from Cinder, leaving him in the hall. Cinder dropped his hand and watched as his classmate walked away without another word. He let out a sigh and looked down to his left hand.

As Ryxo rounded the corner he stopped. To his left hung a mirror on the wall. Ryxo could clearly see every detail of his figure. His white hair that seemed a little shabby around the edges hung loose around his face. His brown eyes piercing his own reflection. The white coat and grey pants that hung on his body nearly form fitting. But what stood out the most, was two wide scars. One climbed from the left of his jaw to the center of his cheek while the other left a pale streak over his left eye.

He remembered the day he had gotten them. It was the day he swore he would never be beaten by Cinder or anyone else again.

Ryxo found himself in the practice gym that night. The academy would need to build new equipment. He had destroyed several wooden target dummies as well as 8 stone slabs and 4 hanging stumps. Each had been left as rubble and shrapnel on the gym floor. Ryxo stood before one of the few remaining stumps that swung limply before him. His keyblade, Grave Heart, held firm in his grip. The red half guard looping around his fingers. The shaft of the Keyblade resembled a mechanical arm of some sort that extended to an actual blade. On the back of the blade was a small pink heart encased between the blade and a silver metal wing. At least that's what Ryxo had always thought it looked like. The masters had always said it was one of the most intricate Keyblade they had ever seen. Cinder's Keyblade on the other hand, had been deemed a perfect balance of light and dark. The guard was made up of a white feathered wing and a black dragon's wing. It's shaft was gold and jagged revealing bits of white and black feathers. The teeth of the blade was a reversed image of the guard on the other end. The dragon wing made the front of the blade while the white feathers created the back. Ryxo shook his head to clear it and set to work on demolishing the target in front of him.

The moon hung high in the night sky and cast just enough light that the wall sconces were only needed to drive away the shadows in the corners of the room.

"Heard Master Yen Sid ripped you a new one today." Came a cheery voice from behind him.

Ryxo stopped mid-strike at the sound of it.

"What are you doing here Raylin?" He asked. His voice betraying a little resentment.

"That's Master Raylin to you pipsqueak. Anyways I just wanted to see how the 'Dark Prince' was doing tonight." She corrected. Ryxo frowned.

"I'm not a Dark Prince." He looked at the red head with confusion as she stepped fully into the room. Her violet armored corset shimmered in the moonlight while her matching cloth skirt seemed to soak it up. Her hair was tied back and pinned up as was normal for her.

"Well that's what everyone else seems to think. They think you're going to abandon them and be consumed by darkness." She explained with a smirk.

Ryxo shook his head.

"Everyone is just upset that they can't beat me. I worked hard to get where I am. I'm three days away from my mark of mastery test. I'll be the first to earn it since you and Shinsei." He let the words pour out of him. He hadn't opened up to anyone in a while. He was afraid to disappoint Master Yen Sid by admitting all of this. But somehow he felt better. Less weight held down his shoulders and for a moment, he almost felt sorry for treating Cinder the way he had earlier.

"Ryxo, you are an amazing Keyblade wielder. You have amazing talents and skills. But you have amazing flaws all the same. You worry too much about being the best instead of doing what's right. Everyone has their moment to shine. It should come to you at its own time. But it seems like you're just chasing after it. Try easing up a bit. Help the others. And you will find balance in your heart." Master Raylin stepped forward and pulled the boy into a hug.

"Master Yen Sid is proud of you for doing your best. But he won't be if you turn on everyone in the process."

Ryxo was about to protest but decided against it. He didn't quite know what she meant. Instead he stepped back out of her hold, bowed, and thanked her. Then left for his room for the night with a sigh, As the day grew darker, Cinder wandered around the academy grounds, with a sigh he put his hands behind his head. "Why won't it work?" He asked himself, ever since he used his duel wield key blades against ryxo, and won, Cinder had tried over and over to get it under control. Chewing on his cheek, the blonde key blade wielded looked up to the stars. Not paying attention, Cinder bumped into someone

"Easy kid. Oh, Cinder. Sorry I didn't mean to run you over." Master Kada smiled down at the boy.

Shaking his head, Cinder looked up. "hello master Kada." Trying to hide the disappointment on his face, cinder gave the man a smile and looked down to his hand as he dropped them to his sides. "Master Kada? Can I ask you something?"

Kara scratched the back of his head.

"Of corse. But please, just Kada. The whole master title makes me feel old. I'm not a Yen Sid yet." He says jokingly.

With a soft chuckle, cinder nodded his head. "Alright then, Kada, it's about my keyblades, why is it that I can have both but in a fight I can only manage to summon one?" To demonstrate his point, Cinder summoned both keyblades and held onto both without a problem. "I don't understand why the second one will never come to me when I fight with ryxo." With a heavy sight, he felt as if he was missing a key point, letting his keyblades vanish, he looked around the area. "And it's not like I'm bad with magic either, I don't understand it."

Kada nodded to himself.

"Well assuming you only have this problem with Ryxo, it could very well be that you are intimidated by him. Your magic has nothing to do with it. I've seen it. You've let your history with Ryxo cloud your heart, but only so much when he is near. You need to focus. It's not going to be so easy. But you can do it. When your heart knows it is needed, I'm sure you will manage it." Kada explained. He may have been the youngest among Master Shinsei's friends, but he was very intelligent. Cinder looked up to the master, "Thank you Kada" thinking about what was said, Cinder took in a deep breath and waved his goodbye to the master,

"Master Shinsei, I will get this darkness out of my heart." He promised to himself. With a yawn the blonde decided to walk to his room, looking up and not on where he was going, Cinder collided right into Ryxo on his way to his own room, startled two Keyblades formed and were ready to go, until he saw who it was, in a split second, the second key vanished, with a deep sigh the other followed suit. "I'm sorry Ryxo, I wasn't looking at where I was going." He said as he scratched the back of his head

Ryxo just blinked, almost startled that someone had run into him.

Ryxo didn't respond. It was going to take a while for him to change his attitude towards others. Most of all, toward Cinder. He shook his head and continued walking. Cinder shrugged his shoulders and went to his room, jumping into his bed and stretching he slowly let sleep find him

Master Yen Sid stood at the front of the room; flanked by Master Kada and master Shinsei.

"In two day's time, some of you will be chosen for the mark of mastery test. Some of you already know who you are. However, the test is simply another lesson. One that can only be taught by yourselves. Until then you will be paired up and will train in dueling with an ally." Yen Sid's voice was stern but not intimidatingly so. Master Shinsei stepped forward and began listing off names. The people that were called bowed as a pair and stepped forward. The master had now called 8 teams before hesitating. He looked at the list, then to Master Yen Sid who in turn nodded.

"Ryxo and Cinder. Step forward." There was a low murmur of disbelief as Ryxo looked up at the masters with shock.

"The rest of you are free to do as you please today but steer clear of the combat arena." Shinsei finished and the class left. Only those who had been called stayed.

With disbelief plastered on his face, Cinder looked up to Shinsei and couldn't believe he was to be paired up with the likes of Ryxo.

They other Keyblade wielders turned and began speaking amongst each other. Ryxo made a quick glance at Cinder then hurried up the dais.

"Master," he spoke softly to all three at once. "Are you certain about my placement? There has to be a mistake." He suggested. There was no way he would earn his mark of mastery this way. He couldn't stand Cinder.

"Ryxo, I assure you there is no mistake. I paired you too myself." Yen Sid replied.

"There is more than a small problem with you two. You both must learn to work around unfavorable odds. And you MUST do it together." He finished.

Cinder folded his arms across his chest and watched, when master Kada motioned for him to join them, he gave a heavy sigh and walked the opposite way to be as far away from his classmate as possible. "Yes master Kada?" Giving a short smile to the master.

Kada took over the conversation then as Cinder made his presence known.

"Master Yen Sid has noticed unrest in the south near the desert. We are sending the two of you to deal with it. Return successful and in one piece, and your mark of mastery will be that much closer to your reach." He explained. The masters looked at the boys each in turn and waved them off.

"Under no circumstances will one of you pass without the other." Yen Sid said before turning away with the other masters, leaving the boys to deal with themselves.

Glancing over to Ryxo, Cinder let out a sigh and turned on his heels when the masters departed.

"If your my way to become a master then we need to work together Ryxo, meet me in the training grounds, we need to work on our teamwork." He said as he walked away, knowing already that the first time they got paired together was the best performance that the masters had seen out of a two man team

Ryxo shook his head in disbelief. Had Cinder given him an order? Frowning he shook his head again and made his way to the training grounds.

When Ryxo arrived at the training ground, Cinder had already climbed up one of the tall posts that the masters would use to observe. Sitting cross-legged, he looked down to the white haired Keyblade wielder.

"I don't know what your deal with me is Ryxo, but if either of us want to be masters then we need to put our differences aside and work together, once we become masters then we can go our separate ways and never have to deal with one another again." With a sigh, the blonde looked down to ryxo, he hated him, but he hated being serious even more, if it was up to him, he would be lounging about relaxing with his friends, but that wasn't the case

Ryxo stared up at his rival. A look of distain clearly plastered on his face as he shook his head.

"You're wrong Cinder. It's our differences that will help us reach our goals!" He called up. Then Ryxo leaped up from the ground like a cat and landed on the post opposite Cinder.

"But let me make myself clear. We need to act as allies. That doesn't make you my friend. It just means you're not my target."

With his arms now behind him as he leaned back, Cinder looked over to Ryxo and raised an eyebrow. "Our differences will help us, yes, but whatever we have against one another will not." Turning his gaze to the pile of broken training dummies, The blonde couldn't help but roll his eyes.

"I might have been able to call you friend a few years ago Ryxo, but that time has passed, I will work with you so we can finally become masters." Turning his head in Ryxo's direction, Cinder left his expression blank.

"As will I Cinder. But once we have, do not expect me to stick around." Ryxo announced. Summoning his Key…


End file.
